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Republic of Iran
: This country is being applied to Altverse. |regional_languages = , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |demonym = Iranian; Persian |government_type = |leader_title1 = President |leader_name1 = Adib Boroumand |leader_title2 = |leader_name2 = |legislature = The National Assembly of Iran |upper_house = National Senate |lower_house = People’s House of Consultants |sovereignty_type = Civil War victory |sovereignty_note = from |population = 77.45 million |population_census_year = 2013 |population_census_rank = 17 |GDP_PPP = 1.937 trillion USD |GDP_PPP_year = 2013 |GDP_PPP_per_capita = 25,025.84 USD |established_event3 = |established_date3 = |established_event1 = Treaty of Tehran (1955) |established_date1 = February 28, 1955 |established_event2 = |established_date2 = |established_event4 = |established_date4 = |HDI = 0.817 |HDI_year = 2013 |HDI_category = high |currency = |currency_code = IRR |time_zone = |utc_offset = +03:30 |utc_offset_DST = +04:30 |date_format = yyyy mm dd |drives_on = right-hand traffic |cctld = .ir |image_flag = Flag of Iran (1964).svg.png |calling_code = +98 |image_map = Iran (orthographic projection).svg.png |image_coat = Iranian Flag Coat Of Arms Emblem Achaemenid Faravahar.jpg}} Iran (/aɪˈræn/) Persian: Irān – ایران‎‎, also known as Persia (/ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/), officially the Republic of Iran (جمهوری ایران – Jomhuri ye Irān), is a in . It is bordered to the northwest by , the , and ; with and across the ; to the northeast by ; to the east by and ; to the south by the and the on a maritime border with Kuwait and Qatif; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), it is the second-largest country in the and the 18th-largest in the world. With 77.45 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 17th-most-populous country. It is the only country that has both a Caspian Sea and an coastline. Iran has long been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in and Western Asia, and its proximity to the . Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest , beginning with the formation of the and kingdoms in 3200–2800 BC. The unified the area into the first of many empires in 625 BC, after which it became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. Iran reached the pinnacle of its power during the founded by in 550 BC, which at its greatest extent comprised major portions of the ancient world, stretching from parts of the ( - , - ) and proper in the west, to the in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of . The emerged from the ashes and was succeeded by the in 224 AD, under which Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world, along with the - , for a period of more than four centuries. In 633 AD, and conquered it by 651 AD, largely replacing the indigenous faiths of and . Iran became a major contributor to the , producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. Establishment of the in 1501, which promoted Islam as the official religion, marked one of the most important turning points in Iranian and . Starting in 1736 under , Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, briefly possessing what was arguably the most powerful empire at the time. During the 19th century, Iran of its territories in the which made part of the concept of Iran for centuries, to neighboring . Popular unrest culminated in the of 1906, which established a and the country’s first parliament. In 1951, was elected Prime Minister of Iran. Mosaddegh attempted to nationalize Iran’s petroleum industry against the interests of the British government. In retaliation, in 1953 the British government dispatched to Iran, and started coup d’état of Mosaddegh’s government by manipulation of royalist persons to bring the back into power. The coup was successful, and Mosaddegh was put on trial and sentenced to military prison confinement starting from December 21, 1953. However in January 2, 1954, a massive rebellion led by Mosaddegh’s former deputy, , leading the Iran Liberation Front. About 42% of the Iranian military mutinied in favor of the Front, including military prisons in which Mosaddegh was freed from confinement and began leading the Front starting from April 16, 1954. Until February 1955, the Iranian Civil War loomed with heavy casualties on both the Shah’s British-backed regime and the Liberation Front which consisted of the civilian majority by the time Mosaddegh was released and resumed power. Despite British support, the Shah’s regime was eventually defeated and evicted from Iran because the majority of Iran supported the Front and corruption within the regime which led to internal conflicts interfering with the Shah’s military progress. Following the eviction of the Shah’s regime, on February 28, 1955 the Republic of Iran was established with Mosaddegh as Prime Minister, head of sovereignty and state. is the country’s capital and largest city, as well as its leading cultural and economic center. Iran is a major and , exerting considerable influence in and the through its large reserves of , which include the largest in the world and the fourth-largest proven . Iran’s rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the fourth-largest number in Asia and 12th-largest in the world. Iran is a founding member of the , , , and . Its political system is based on the 1955 Constitution which defines a under a . A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are officially Muslim, and is the official language. Etymology Iran is a Modern Persian derivative from the Proto-Iranian term Āryānam, meaning "land of the Aryans," first attested in Avesta. The term Ērān is found in a 3rd-century Middle Persian inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam, and the term Āryān is used in the Parthian inscription that accompanies it, in reference to Iranians. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis (Περσίς), meaning "land of the Persians." As the most extensive and close interaction the Ancient Greeks ever had with any outsider was that with the Persians, the term became coined forever, even long after the Persian rule in Greece. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, Iran. As the New York Times explained at the time, "At the suggestion of the Persian Legation in Berlin, the Tehran government, on the Persian New Year, Nowruz, March 21, 1935, substituted Iran for Persia as the official name of the country." Opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably. Today, both Persia and Iran are used in cultural contexts; although, Iran is the name used officially in political contexts. Historical and cultural usage of the word Iran is not restricted to the modern state proper. Irānzamīn or Irān e Bozorg (Greater Iran) correspond to territories of the Iranian cultural and linguistic zones. In addition to modern Iran, it includes portions of the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Central Asia. History 'Prehistory' The earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran, like those excavated at the Kashafrud and Ganj Par sites, attest to a human presence in Iran since the Lower Paleolithic era, c. 800,000–200,000 BC. Iran’s Neanderthal artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic period, c. 200,000–40,000 BC, have been found mainly in the Zagros region, at sites such as Warwasi and Yafteh Cave. Around 10th to 8th millennium BC, early agricultural communities such as Chogha Golan and Chogha Bonut began to flourish in Iran, as well as Susa and Chogha Mish developing in and around the Zagros region. The emergence of Susa as a city, as determined by radiocarbon dating, dates back to early 4,395 BC. There are dozens of prehistoric sites across the Iranian plateau, pointing to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the 4th millennium BC. During the Bronze Age, Iran was home to several civilizations including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayande River. Elam, the most prominent of these civilizations, developed in the southwest of Iran, alongside those in Mesopotamia. The emergence of writing in Elam was paralleled to Sumer, and the Elamite cuneiform was developed since the 3rd millennium BC. The Elamite Kingdom continued its existence until the emergence of the Median and Achaemenid empires. Between 3400 BC until about 2000 BC, northwestern Iran was part of the Kura-Araxes culture that stretched into the neighbouring regions of the Caucasus and Anatolia. Since the earliest 2nd millennium BC, Assyrians settled in swaths of western Iran, and incorporated the region into their territories. 'Classical Antiquity' During the 2nd millennium BC, Proto-Iranian tribes arrived in Iran from the Eurasian steppes, rivaling the native settlers of the country. As these tribes dispersed into the wider area of Greater Iran and beyond, the boundaries of modern Iran were dominated by the Persian, Median, and Parthian tribes. From the late 10th to late 7th centuries BC, the Iranian peoples, together with the pre-Iranian kingdoms, fell under the domination of the Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. Under king Cyaxares, the Medes and Persians entered into an alliance with Nabopolassar of Babylon, as well as the Scythians and the Cimmerians, and together they attacked the Assyrian Empire. The civil war ravaged Assyrian Empire between 616 BC and 605 BC, thus freeing their respective peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule. The unification of the Median tribes under a single ruler in 728 BC led to the foundation of the Median Empire which, by 612 BC, controlled the whole Iran and the eastern Anatolia. This marked the end of the Kingdom of Urartu as well, which was subsequently conquered and dissolved. In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great, son of Mandane and Cambyses I, took over the Median Empire, and founded the Achaemenid Empire by unifying other city states. The conquest of Media was a result of what is called the Persian Revolt. The brouhaha was initially triggered by the actions of the Median ruler Astyages, and was quickly spread to other provinces, as they allied with the Persians. Later conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded the empire to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper, as well as the lands to the west of the Indus and Oxus rivers. 539 BC, which was the year in which Persian forces defeated the Babylonian army at Opis, marks the end of around four centuries of Mesopotamian domination of the region with the transition from the Neo-Babylonian Period to the Achaemenid Period. Cyrus entered Babylon and presented himself as a traditional Mesopotamian monarch. Subsequent Achaemenid art and iconography reflect the influence of the new political reality on the Mesopotamian tradition. At its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire included the modern territories of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria (Thrace), Macedonia (northern Greece), Paeonia (FYROM), Bulgaria, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, all significant ancient population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya, Kuwait, northern Saudi Arabia, parts of the UAE and Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and much of Central Asia, making it the first world government and the largest empire had yet seen. It is estimated that in 480 BC, 50 million people lived in the Achaemenid Empire. According to Guinness World Records, the empire at its peak ruled over 44% of the world's population, the highest such figure for any empire in history. In Greek history, it is considered as the antagonist of the Greek city states, for the emancipation of slaves including the Jewish exiles in Babylon, building infrastructures such as road and postal systems, and the use of an official language, the Imperial Aramaic, throughout its territories. The empire had a centralized, bureaucratic administration under the emperor, a large professional army, and civil services, inspiring similar developments in later empires. Furthermore, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, was built in the empire between 353 to 350 BC. Eventual conflict on the western borders began with the Ionian Revolt which erupted into the Greco-Persian Wars, and continued through the first half of the 5th century BC, and ended with the Persian withdrawal from all of their European territories in the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Achaemenid Empire, defeating the last Achaemenid emperor, Darius III, at the Battle of Issus. Following the premature death of Alexander, Iran came under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. In the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Parthian Empire rose to become the main power in Iran, and the century-long geopolitical arch-rivalry between Romans and Parthians began, culminating in the Roman–Parthian Wars. The Parthian Empire continued as a feudal monarchy for nearly five centuries, until 224 CE, when it was succeeded by the Sassanid Empire. Together with their neighboring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, they made up the world's two most dominant powers at the time, for over four centuries. The Sassanids established an empire within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with their capital at Ctesiphon. The Sassanid Empire of the Late Antiquity is considered as one of the most influential periods of Iran, as Iran influenced the culture of ancient Rome (and through that as far as Western Europe), Africa, China, and India, and played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art. Most of the era of both Parthian and Sassanid empires were overshadowed by the Roman-Persian Wars, which raged on their western borders at the Anatolia, the western Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Levant, for over 700 years. These wars exhausted both Romans and Sassanids, and led to the defeat of both at the hands of the invading Muslim Arabs. Several offshoots of the Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanids, established eponymous dynasties and branches in Anatolia and the Caucasus, including the Kingdom of Pontus, the Mihranids, and the Arsacid dynasties of Armenia, Iberia (Georgia), and Caucasian Albania (present-day Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan). 'Medieval Period' The prolonged Byzantine-Sassanid Wars, most importantly the climactic Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628, as well as the social conflict within the Sassanid Empire, opened the way for an Arab invasion to Iran in the 7th century. Initially defeated by the Arab Rashidun Caliphate, Iran came under the rule of the Arab caliphates of Umayyad and Abbasid. The prolonged and gradual process of the Islamization of Iran began following the conquest. Under the new Arab elite of the Rashidun and later the Umayyad caliphates, both converted (mawali) and non-converted (dhimmi) Iranians were discriminated against, being excluded from the government and military, and having to pay a special tax called Jizya. Gunde Shapur, home of the Academy of Gunde Shapur which was the most important medical center of the world at the time, survived after the invasion, but became known as an Islamic institute thereafter. In 750, the Abbasids overthrown the Umayyads, due mainly to the support from the mawali Iranians. The mawali formed the majority of the rebel army, which was led by the Iranian general Abu Muslim. The arrival of the Abbasid Caliphs saw a revival of Iranian culture and influence, and a move away from the imposed Arabic customs. The role of the old Arab aristocracy was gradually replaced by an Iranian bureaucracy. After two centuries of the Arab rule, semi-independent and independent Iranian kingdoms such as the Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, and Buyids, began to appear on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate. By the Samanid era in the 9th and 10th centuries, the efforts of Iranians to regain their independence had been well solidified. The blossoming literature, philosophy, medicine, and art of Iran became major elements in the formation of a new age for the Iranian civilization, during the period known as the Islamic Golden Age. The Islamic Golden Age reached its peak by the 10th and 11th centuries, during which Iran was the main theater of the scientific activities. After the 10th century, Persian language, alongside Arabic, was used for the scientific, philosophical, historical, musical, and medical works, whereas the important Iranian writers, such as Tusi, Avicenna, Qotb od Din Shirazi, and Biruni, had major contributions in the scientific writing. The cultural revival that began in the Abbasid period led to a resurfacing of the Iranian national identity, and so earlier attempts of Arabization never succeeded in Iran. The Iranian Shuubiyah movement became a catalyst for Iranians to regain independence in their relations with the Arab invaders. The most notable effect of this movement was the continuation of Persian language attested to the epic poet Ferdowsi, now regarded as the most important figure in Iranian literature. The 10th century saw a mass migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia into the Iranian plateau. Turkic tribesmen were first used in the Abbasid army as mamluks (slave-warriors), replacing Iranian and Arab elements within the army. As a result, the mamluks gained a significant political power. In 999, large portions of Iran came briefly under the rule of the Ghaznavids, whose rulers were of mamluk Turk origin, and longer subsequently under the Turkish Seljuk and Khwarezmian empires. These Turks had been Persianized and had adopted Persian models of administration and rulership. The Seljuks subsequently gave rise to the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia, while taking their thoroughly Persianized identity with them. The result of the adoption and patronage of Persian culture by Turkish rulers was the development of a distinct Turko-Persian tradition. In 1219–21 the Khwarezmian Empire suffered a devastating invasion by the Mongol army of Genghis Khan. According to Steven R. Ward, "Mongol violence and depredations killed up to three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Some historians have estimated that Iran's population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century." Following the fracture of the Mongol Empire in 1256, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, established the Ilkhanate in Iran. In 1370, yet another conqueror, Timur, followed the example of Hulagu, establishing the Timurid Empire which lasted for another 156 years. In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, reportedly killing 70,000 citizens. The Ilkhans and the Timurids soon came to adopt the ways and customs of the Iranians, choosing to surround themselves with a culture that was distinctively Iranian. 'Early Modern Period' By the 1500s, Ismail I from Ardabil, established the Safavid Dynasty, with Tabriz as the capital. Beginning with Azerbaijan, he subsequently extended his authority over all of the Iranian territories, and established an intermittent Iranian hegemony over the vast relative regions, reasserting the Iranian identity within large parts of the Greater Iran. Iran was predominantly Sunni, but Ismail instigated a forced conversion to the Shia branch of Islam, by which the Shia Islam spread throughout the Safavid territories in the Caucasus, Iran, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. As a result, thereof, the modern-day Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan are the only official Shia nations of the world, with it holding an absolute majority in both nations, and having the 1st and 2nd highest number of Shia inhabitants by population percentage in the world. The centuries-long geopolitical and ideological rivalry between Safavid Iran and the neighboring Ottoman Empire, led to numerous Ottoman–Persian Wars. The Safavid Era peaked in the reign of Abbas the Great, 1587–1629, surpassing their Ottoman arch rivals in strength, and making the empire a leading hub in Western Eurasia for the sciences and arts. The Safavid Era saw the start of mass integration from Caucasian populations into new layers of the society of Iran, as well as mass resettlement of them within the heartlands of Iran, playing a pivotal role in the history of Iran for centuries onwards. Following a gradual decline in the late 1600s and early 1700s, which was caused by the internal conflicts, the continuous wars with the Ottomans, and the foreign interference (most notably the Russian interference), the Safavid rule was ended by the Pashtun rebels who besieged Isfahan and defeated Soltan Hosein in 1722. In 1729, Nader Shah, a chieftain and military genius from Khorasan, successfully drove out and conquered the Pashtun invaders. He subsequently took back the annexed Caucasian territories which were divided among the Ottoman and Russian authorities by the ongoing chaos in Iran. During the reign of Nader Shah, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire, reestablishing the Iranian hegemony all over the Caucasus, as well as other major parts of the west and central Asia, and briefly possessing what was arguably the most powerful empire at the time. Nader Shah invaded India and sacked far off Delhi by the late 1730s. His territorial expansion, as well as his military successes, went into a decline following the final campaigns in the Northern Caucasus. The assassination of Nader Shah sparked a brief period of civil war and turmoil, after which Karim Khan of the Zand Dynasty came to power in 1750, bringing a period of relative peace and prosperity. The geopolitical reach of the Zand Dynasty was limited, compared to its preceding dynasties, and many of the Iranian territories in the Caucasus gained de facto independence, and were locally ruled through various Caucasian khanates. However, despite the self-ruling, they all remained subjects and vassals to the Zand king. The khanates exercised control over their affairs via international trade routes between Central Asia and the West. Another civil war ensued after the death of Karim Khan in 1779, out of which Aqa Mohammad Khan emerged, founding the Qajar Dynasty in 1794. In 1795, following the disobedience of the Georgian subjects and their alliance with the Russians, the Qajars captured Tblisi by the Battle of Krtsanisi, and drove the Russians out of the entire Caucasus, reestablishing a short-lived Iranian suzerainty over the region. The Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 however resulted in large irrevocable territorial losses for Iran in the Caucasus, comprising all of Transcaucasia and Dagestan, which made part of the very concept of Iran for centuries, and thus substantial gains for the neighboring Russian Empire. As a result of the 19th century Russo-Persian wars, the Russians took over the Caucasus, and Iran irrevocably lost control over its integral territories in the region (comprising modern-day Dagestan, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan), which got confirmed per the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay. The area to the north of the river Aras, among which the contemporary Republic of Azerbaijan, eastern Georgia, Dagestan, and Armenia, were Iranian territory until they were occupied by Russia in the course of the 19th century. As Iran shrank, many Transcaucasian and North Caucasian Muslims moved towards Iran, especially until the aftermath result of the Caucasian War, and the decades afterwards, while Iran’s Armenians were encouraged to settle in the newly incorporated Russian territories, causing significant demographic shifts. 'Late Modern Period' Around 1.5 million people — 20 to 25% of the population of Iran — died as a result of the Great Famine of 1870–1871. Between 1872 and 1905, a series of protests took place in response to the sale of concessions to foreigners by Nasser od Din and Mozaffar od Din shahs of Qajar, and led to the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. The first Iranian Constitution and the first national parliament of Iran were founded in 1906, through the ongoing revolution. The Constitution included the official recognition of Iran's three religious minorities, namely Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jews, which has remained a basis in the legislation of Iran since then. The struggle related to the constitutional movement continued until 1911, when Mohammad Ali Shah was defeated and forced to abdicate. On the pretext of restoring order, the Russians occupied Northern Iran in 1911, and maintained a military presence in the region for years to come. During World War I, the British occupied much of Western Iran, and fully withdrew in 1921. The Persian Campaign commenced furthermore during World War I in Northwestern Iran after an Ottoman invasion, as part of the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. As a result of Ottoman hostilities across the border, a large amount of the Assyrians of Iran were massacred by the Ottoman armies, notably in and around Urmia. Apart from the rule of Aqa Mohammad Khan, the Qajar rule is characterized as a century of misrule. In 1921, the Qajar Dynasty was overthrown by Reza Khan of the Pahlavi Dynasty, who was the Prime Minister of Iran and the former general of the Persian Cossack Brigade, and he became the new Shah. In 1941, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and established the Persian Corridor, a massive supply route that would last until the end of the ongoing war, World War II. The presence of so many foreign troops in the nation also culminated in the Soviet-backed establishment of two puppet regimes in the nation; the Azerbaijan People's Government, and the Republic of Mahabad. As the Soviet Union refused to relinquish the occupied Iranian territory, the Iran crisis of 1946 was followed, which particularly resulted in the dissolution of both puppet states, and the withdrawal of the Soviets. In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected as the prime minister. He became enormously popular in Iran, after he nationalized Iran's petroleum industry and oil reserves. 'Iranian Civil War' Mosaddegh’s nationalization of the petroleum industry and oil reserves was an extremely popular political reform in Iran, but it was met with disapproval by the British power that owned the oil industry prior to its nationalization under Mosaddegh. In retaliation, the British government dispatched MI6 to Iran to start the August 1953 Iranian coup d’état, a British covert operation to overthrow Mosaddegh’s government and bring the Shah back into power. After the coup, the Shah became increasingly autocratic and sultanistic, and Iran began a controversial relationship with the British Commonwealth and some other foreign governments. Additionally, Mosaddegh was tried for solitary confinement in prison. Mass protests and civil unrest followed the coup. During this time, exile Karim Sanjabi, former deputy of Prime Minister Mosaddegh, founded the Iranian Liberation Front, an insurrectionist movement against the Shah’s regime. The Iranian Liberation Front quickly gathered a major civilians support. At first about 42% of the Iranian military mutinied and joined the Liberation Front, mostly because their families had joined the effort against the Shah’s regime. In the early months of the war, Paramilitary rebel groups affiliated with the Front seized arms recruited hundreds of rebels all over Iran. In the spring of 1981, the United States allowed for Iranians to enter their country as refugees to escape the war. One notable refugee was a former Marxist and Iranian student, Ali Khavari, who fled in fear of persecution by both regimes. Khavari would eventually return to his home country with a changed political ideology, to found the First World Party in 1973 and become future President of Iran. On April 2, 1954, Mosaddegh was released from military prison by military mutineers. Two weeks later, Mosaddegh appeared before the Liberation Front and civilians at a rally in Mashhad, Iran, and announced his plans to reorganize the Liberation forces and take over Iran. By that time, about 12 million Iranian civilians rallied behind Mosaddegh. In response, the Shah ordered martial law. The Iranian Liberation Army made its debut during the Isfahan campaign, a bloody conflict which lasted from April to July that year with the ousting of the Shah’s influence over Isfahan and the surrounding area. At the same time, a seperate force took over Tabriz, forcing the Shah’s forces to go on the defensive. Surrendering armies were often integrated into army the Liberation forces. Subsequently, two assassination attempts were made on the Shah and Tehran was put on lock down. In December 1954, the Iranian Liberation Army bombarded the capital district in Tehran and broke the defensive line around the city. Internal rebel groups burned the British embassy, and then seized the capital. However, by then the Shah had already fled Tehran for Great Britain. The Shah’s forces in Tehran surrendered immediately and the city was quickly occupied by Liberation Forces. 'Treaty of Tehran and Establishment of the Republic' On February 27, 1955, a conference was held in Tehran to discuss post-civil war relations between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the still not yet recognized Republic of Iran. Leading the conference was President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower, and President of the Republic of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh. The Treaty of Tehran was passed, with all of the Shah’s former territorial holdings ceded to the Republic, and with respect to Mosaddegh as Prime Minister and the Republic as the rightful and recognized authority over Iran and its citizens. 'Twilight Era' On March 1, 1955, the Republic of Iran held its first elections to the National Assembly, where 227 newly elected officials from about 79 different political parties from all over Iran presided to construct Iran’s new constitution. However, officials and their political parties often disagreed on national issues, the construction of constitutional law, and Iran’s political agenda of focus. Mosaddegh found himself swamped by a variety of requests he could not promise, for instance, the debate of national religion, particularly between Sunni and Shia Muslims; the role of Sharia, or Islamic law, in the nation’s legislation; women’s rights; a proposal for an autonomous Kurdish federate state; even a proposal for a new Shah to replace the former “corrupted” one. The problems were almost endless. At the same time, oil production dropped due to the issue of oil industry strikes, as did oil revenue, while inflation and unemployment ran high. Despite the drop in oil revenue, Iran was able to join OPEC in 1960. The immediate nationwide uprisings against the new government began by Kurdish rebellions with the Khuzestan uprisings, along with the uprisings in Sistan and Baluchestan Province and other areas. Over the next several years, these uprisings were subdued in a violent manner by Mosaddegh’s government. Before Mosaddegh could attempt to repair the unstable nation, he died on September 5, 1967, leaving the government under the control of temporary President, Karim Sanjabi, who simply stalled the growing problem and grew unpopular as he dismissed many issues. The people of Iran all wanted someone to replace Sanjabi, but could not agree on the who the replacement should be out of several opposing candidates. In the final stages of the competition, opposing each other in the political battlefield was the Shia Islamist and religious leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and NATO-sympathizer Ali Khavari. The Ayatollah promoted a strict interpretation of Islamic law, Sharia, which he wanted to be the law and bedrock of living for all of Iran. He had many supporters, all of whom were other Shia Muslims who leaned conservative to their religion. Ali Khavari, on the other hand, opposed nearly everything the Ayatollah stood for. Khavari was a former member of the Tudeh Party, also known as the Communist Party of Iran, but had shifted right as a neo-conservative, began opposing the Soviet Union which he once supported, and embraced capitalist economics during his visit to the United States of America in the 60s and 70s. His supporters included many people who felt that the economy played an important role in their lives. Khavari was supported by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; he wanted more Westernization, although with respect to maintaining Iranian super-culture, and wanted Iran to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In 1878, Ali Khameini, the Ayatollah’s second-in-command, began to take the place of the Ayatollah, but pushed for the same agenda. Despite Khavari’s appeal and pragmatic approach, the Ayatollah was significantly more active and created more resolutions to Iran’s many issues, even if many Iranians disapproved of his proposals. Even Iraq began to recognize the Ayatollah as the more likely candidate to become the next ruler of Iran. The Ayatollah even called for an Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which would eventually be heralded as threatening statement by the Ba’ath Iraqi government led by Hussein. 'Iran-Iraq War' In 1958, a coup d’etat known as the 14 July Revolution led to the end of the Iraqi monarchy. Iraqi Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim assumed power, but he was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif in a February 1963 coup. After his death in 1966 he was succeeded by his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, who was overthrown by the Ba'ath Party in 1968. Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr became the first Ba'ath President of Iraq but then the movement gradually came under the control of General Saddam Hussein, who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), then Iraq's supreme executive body, in July 1979. Iran’s relations to Iraq and its series of new rulers remained unstable. During the Twilight Era, neither Mosaddegh nor Sanjabi could create a resolution over the dispute of control over the Shatt-el-Arab River which combines Mesopotomian rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, and connects them to the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, when the Ba’ath Party took power in 1968, it opposed the western pluralist secularism upheld by the Iranian Republic government. When Saddam Hussein took control in 1979, Iran’s economy was falling closer to the bottom than ever before. Iraq began planning offensives, confident that they would succeed. Iran lacked both cohesive leadership and spare parts for their equipment which were purchased from the United States in the early 60s. Iraq, on the other hand, possessed a fully equipped and trained modern military, consisting of 200,000 men, 2,000 tanks, and 450 aircraft. The Iraqis could mobilize up to 12 mechanised divisions, and morale was running high. Through the 1970s, Saddam had armed his forces with the latest military hardware from the Soviet Union. In addition, the area around the Shatt al-Arab posed no obstacle for the Iraqis, as they possessed river crossing equipment. Iraq correctly deduced that Iran's defences at the crossing points around the Karkheh and Karoun Rivers were undermanned and that the rivers could be easily crossed. Iraqi intelligence was also informed that the Iranian forces in Khuzestan (which consisted of two divisions prior to the revolution) now only consisted of several ill-equipped and under-strength battalions. Only a handful of company-sized tank units remained operational. The only qualms the Iraqis had were over the Iranian Air Force (RIAF). Despite the purge of several key pilots and commanders, as well as the lack of spare parts, the air force showed its power during local uprisings and rebellions throughout the Twilight Era. As such, Iraq’s leaders decided to carry out a surprise airstrike against the Iranian Air Force's infrastructure prior to the main invasion. In Iran, severe officer dismissals due to corruption in military leadership, and shortages of spare parts for Iran’s U.S.-made equipment had crippled Iran’s once-mighty military. Between February and September 1979, Iran's government arrested 85 senior generals and forced all major-generals and most brigadier-generals into early retirement. By September 1980, the government had arrested 12,000 army officers. These arrests resulted in a drastic decline in the Iranian military's operational capacities. Their regular army (which, in 1978, was considered the world's fifth most powerful) had been badly weakened. The desertion rate had reached 60%, and the officer corps was devastated. The most highly skilled soldiers and aviators were relieved from duty or arrested, and many also resigned. Throughout the war, Iran never managed to fully recover from this flight of human capital. Continuous sanctions prevented Iran from acquiring many heavy weapons, such as tanks and aircraft. When the invasion occurred, many pilots and officers were released from prison. In addition, many junior officers were promoted to generals, resulting in the army being more integrated as a part of the regime by the war's end, as it is today. Iran still had at least 1,000 operational tanks and several hundred functional aircraft, and could cannibalize equipment to procure spare parts. Meanwhile, a new paramilitary organisation gained prominence in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (often shortened to Revolutionary Guards, and known in Iran as the Sepah-e-Pasdaran), which intended to protect a future regime by their funder, the Ayatollah, and counterbalance the decaying army. Despite having been trained as a paramilitary organisation, after the Iraqi invasion, they were integrated into the regular army. Initially, they refused to fight alongside the army, which resulted in many defeats, but, by 1982, the two groups began carrying out combined operations. Another paramilitary militia was founded in response to the invasion, the "Army of 20 Million", commonly known as the Basij. The Basij had a nationalist agenda and idolized Mosaddegh, but were poorly armed and had members as young as 12 and as old as 70. They often acted in conjunction with the Revolutionary Guard, launching so-called human wave attacks and other campaigns against the Iraqis. They were subordinate to the Revolutionary Guards, and they made up most of the manpower that was used in the Revolutionary Guard’s attacks. On Hussein’s orders, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980. The Iraqi Air Force launched surprise air strikes on ten Iranian airfields with the objective of destroying the Iranian Air Force, mimicking Israeli Air Force in the Six-Day War. The attack failed to damage Iranian Air Force significantly: it damaged some of Iran's airbase infrastructure, but failed to destroy a significant number of aircraft: the Iraqi Air Force was only able to strike in depth with a few MiG-23BN, Tu-22, and Su-20 aircraft. Three MiG-23s managed to attack Tehran, striking its airport, but destroyed only a few aircraft. The next day, Iraq launched a ground invasion along a front measuring 644 km (400 mi) in three simultaneous attacks. The invasion’s purpose, according to Saddam, was to blunt the edge of the Ayatollah’s Islamic movement and to thwart his attempts to export his Islamic revolution to Iraq and the Persian Gulf states. Saddam hoped that by annexing Khuzestan, he would send such a blow to Iran’s prestige that it would lead to the government’s downfall, or, at the very least, end the Ayatollah’s calls for his overthrow. The forces of Saddam Hussein made several early advances until 1982, for two years of war bringing despair and panic to the unprepared people of the Republic of Iran. There were two important factors that turned the tables of the war. First, when the Republic of Iran declared war on Iraq, it had declared war alone and had no allies, but as the point of no hope drew near, Ali Khavari made a deal with new US President Ronald Reagan; by joining NATO in the Cold War, NATO countries will supply Iran with arms and other resources for the war effort against Iraq, a nation supplied by the Soviet Union. The deal popularized when it became public and the democratic body ruled in favor of Khavari as the new President of Iran. Second, Khavari called on the Iranian people to unite for the war effort. Immediately the Iranian Army amassed an addition of 200,000 military conscripts and industrial production increased. Anti-war protests ended. Industry began employing women and propaganda emphasized woman power which was a major social issue at the time. The Ayatollah did not become president, but he continued to be a powerful National Assembly member considering himself to be the righteous representative of all Shia Muslims; he was replaced by Ali Khameini after his death in 1989. A refreshed Iranian armed forces successfully managed to drive the Iraqi army back into Iraq. In July 1982, with Iraq thrown on the defensive, Iran took the decision to invade Iraq and conducted countless offensives in a bid to conquer Iraqi territory and capture cities, such as Basra. The war continued until 1988, when the Iraqi army defeated the Iranian forces inside Iraq and pushed the remaining Iranian troops back across the border. A ceasefire was accepted on August 20, 1989, when Saddam finally warned Iran that starting a new offensive would prompt him to use weapons of mass destruction. The total Iranian casualties in the war were estimated to be 123,220–160,000 KIA, 60,711 MIA, and 11,000–16,000 civilians killed. After the war, Iran officially joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on September 3, 1989. 'Contemporary Iran' Following the war, Khavari discontinued his presidency and elections began with a rather libertarian politician, Sepandar Apoli, sworn into office after promising a pragmatic economic boom for Iran. Apoli’s promised economic boom did not occur, but nonetheless began Iran’s fairly gradual transition into a global energy superpower. In August 1990, Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. This subsequently led to military intervention by United States-led forces in the First Gulf War. As a NATO member, the Iranian Armed Forces were a part of the coalition forces, and proceeded with a bombing campaign targeting military targets and then launched a 100-hour-long ground assault against Iraqi forces in Southern Iraq and those occupying Kuwait. Iraq’s armed forces were devastated during the war and shortly after it ended in 1991. The Iranian Army withdrew from Iraq when the Gulf War was officially over, but the Iranian Navy and Air Force continued to operate from the Persian Gulf and protect the established Iraq no-fly zones. After the war, Apoli commenced Iran’s nuclear project, and in December 1994, Apoli announced that Iran had built its first arsenal of nuclear weapons, which was tested a month later in Dasht-e Loot, or the Loot Desert, all of them successful. Apoli was followed by libertarian Foad Pashaie in 1998, who focused more on civil liberties, and allowed the women’s human rights movement to take place in peace. During Pashaie’s time in office, government funding for Iran’s nuclear warhead production was halted for education and health care reforms. On July 18, 2002, Islamic extremists claimed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda smoke bombed the United States Consulate in Tehran and proceeded to open gunfire into the consulate, killing nineteen people and injuring twenty-seven including five visiting United States citizens, two Iranian citizens, and thirty-nine consulate staff members. Consequently, Pashaie was then replaced by the more militant President Ahmed Usain in 2002. Usain joined in on George W. Bush’s plans for an invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan; a War on Terror. In November 2002 the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 1441 and in March 2003, the Iranian Armed Forces declared war on Saddam Hussein’s regime and the Taliban and invaded Iraq and Afghanistan along with the US and other allies. Iranian forces withdrew from Iraq following the restoration of the Iraqi monarchy in 2004, which Iran maintains stable and supportive relations with today. Usain increased corporate rights, and despite expanding the wealth gap, increased the size of the wealth pyramid and transformed Iran into an energy superpower and simultaneously reviving nuclear warhead production. 2010, Adib Boroumand was inaugurated president and focused on creating new trade agreements with countries. In 2013, Boroumand withdrew the Iranian Armed Forces from Afghanistan, and brought much of his focus on security in response to the rising threat of the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL). Boroumand also signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty that year, and ended nuclear arms production. Currently, there is a much debate on the issue of fighting ISIL. According to 2014 polls, the majority of Iranians are open to siding with Assad and Russia rather than taking the secular approach as demanded by NATO and the United States. Geography Iran is the 18th largest country in the world, with an area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi). Its area roughly equals that of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Germany combined. Iran lies between latitudes 24° and 40° N, and longitudes 44° and 64° E. Its borders are with Azerbaijan (611 km or 380 mi, with Azerbaijan-Naxcivan exclave, 179 km or 111 mi) and Armenia (35 km or 22 mi) to the north-west; the Caspian Sea to the north; Turkmenistan (992 km or 616 mi) to the north-east; Pakistan (909 km or 565 mi) and Afghanistan (936 km or 582 mi) to the east; Turkey (499 km or 310 mi) and Iraq (1,458 km or 906 mi) to the west; and finally the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south. Iran consists of the Iranian Plateau with the exception of the coasts of the Caspian Sea and Khuzestan Province. It is one of the world's most mountainous countries, its landscape dominated by rugged mountain ranges that separate various basins or plateaux from one another. The populous western part is the most mountainous, with ranges such as the Caucasus, Zagros and Alborz Mountains; the last contains Iran’s highest point, Mount Damavand at 5,610 m (18,406 ft), which is also the highest mountain on the Eurasian landmass west of the Hindu Kush. The northern part of Iran is covered by dense rain forests called Shomal or the Jungles of Iran. The eastern part consists mostly of desert basins such as the Dasht-e Kavir, Iran's largest desert, in the north-central portion of the country, and the Dasht-e Lut, in the east, as well as some salt lakes. This is because the mountain ranges are too high for rain clouds to reach these regions. The only large plains are found along the coast of the Caspian Sea and at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, where Iran borders the mouth of the Arvand river. Smaller, discontinuous plains are found along the remaining coast of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. 'Climate' Iran's climate ranges from arid or semiarid, to subtropical along the Caspian coast and the northern forests. On the northern edge of the country (the Caspian coastal plain) temperatures rarely fall below freezing and the area remains humid for the rest of the year. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 29 °C (84.2 °F). Annual precipitation is 680 mm (26.8 in) in the eastern part of the plain and more than 1,700 mm (66.9 in) in the western part. United Nations Resident Coordinator for Iran Gary Lewis has said that "Water scarcity poses the most severe human security challenge in Iran today". To the west, settlements in the Zagros basin experience lower temperatures, severe winters with below zero average daily temperatures and heavy snowfall. The eastern and central basins are arid, with less than 200 mm (7.9 in) of rain, and have occasional deserts. Average summer temperatures rarely exceed 38 °C (100.4 °F). The coastal plains of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern Iran have mild winters, and very humid and hot summers. The annual precipitation ranges from 135 to 355 mm (5.3 to 14.0 in). 'Fauna' The wildlife of Iran is composed of several animal species, including bears, gazelles, wild pigs, wolves, jackals, panthers, Eurasian lynx, and foxes. The domestic animals of Iran include sheep, goats, cattle, horses, water buffaloes, donkeys, and camels. Pheasants, partridges, storks, eagles, and falcons are also native to the wildlife of Iran. One of the most famous members of the Iranian wildlife is the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah, also known as the Iranian Cheetah, whose numbers were greatly reduced after the Iran-Iraq War. Iran had lost all its wild Asiatic Lions with the exception of a domesticated population of 20 Asiatic Lions, and the now extinct Caspian Tigers by the earlier part of the 20th century. At least 74 species of Iranian wildlife are on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a sign of serious threats against the country’s biodiversity. The Iranian National Assembly has been showing disregard for wildlife by passing laws and regulations such as the act that lets the Ministry of Industries exploit mines without the involvement of the Department of Environment, and by approving large national development projects without demanding comprehensive study of their impact on wildlife habitats. 'Regions, provinces, and cities' Iran is divided into five regions with thirty one provinces (ostān), each governed by an elected governor (ostāndār). The provinces are divided into counties (shahrestān), and subdivided into districts (bakhsh) and sub-districts (dehestān). Iran has one of the highest urban growth rates in the world. From 1950 to 2002, the urban proportion of the population increased from 27% to 60%. The United Nations predicts that by 2030, 80% of the population will be urban. Most internal migrants have settled near the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Ahvaz, and Qom. Tehran, with a population of 8,244,759 according to the 2013 census, is the largest city in Iran and is the capital. Tehran, like many big cities, suffers from severe air pollution. It is the hub of the country's communication and transport network. Mashhad, with a population of 2,772,287, is the second largest Iranian city and the capital of the Razavi Khorasan Province. Mashhad is one of the holiest Shia cities in the world as it is the site of the Imam Reza shrine. It is the centre of tourism in Iran, and between 15 and 20 million Shia Muslim pilgrims go to the Imam Reza’s shrine every year. The third major city of Iran is Tabriz (population 2,187,491), the capital of the East Azerbaijan Province. It is also the second industrial city of Iran after Tehran. Tabriz had been the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s and one of its former capitals and residence of the crown prince under the Qajar Dynasty. The city has proven extremely influential in the country’s recent history. The fifth major city is Karaj (population 1,967,005), located in Alborz Province and situated 20 km west of Tehran, at the foot of the Alborz mountains; however, the city is increasingly becoming an extension of metropolitan Tehran. Another major Iranian city is Isfahan (population 1,755,382), which is the capital of Isfahan Province. The Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The city contains a wide variety of Islamic architectural sites ranging from the 11th to the 19th century. The growth of the suburban area around the city has turned Isfahan into Iran's fifth most populous metropolitan area. The sixth major Iranian city is Shiraz (population 1,500,453); it is the capital of Fars Province. The Babylonian civilization to the west greatly influenced the area, which soon came to be known as Persis. The ancient Persians were present in the region from about the 9th century BC, and became rulers of a large empire under the Achaemenid Dynasty in the 6th century BC. The ruins of Persepolis and Pasargadae, two of the four capitals of the Achaemenid Empire, are located in or near Shiraz. Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire and is situated 70 kilometres (43 mi) northeast of modern Shiraz. UNESCO declared the citadel of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979. Government and politics Iran operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic republic with both meritocratic and universal suffrage systems depending on the classification of election or proposition. A member of parliament, or National Assembly, supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the president—usually this is the chair of the largest party. The president is the head of state and head of the administration. Iran is currently governed by a 290-member National Assembly. Membership of the National Assembly is based on proportional representation of political parties, with a 4% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but a no-confidence vote by the Assembly or presidential voucher can dissolve an election, keeping the current President in power until the next elections. 'Legal System' Israel has a three-tier court system. At the lowest level are magistrate courts, situated in most townships across the country. Above them are provincial courts, serving as both appellate courts and courts of first instance; they are situated in all thirty one provinces. The third and highest tier is the Supreme Court, located in Tehran; it serves a dual role as the highest court of appeals and the High Court of Justice. In the latter role, the Supreme Court rules as a court of first instance, allowing individuals, both citizens and non-citizens, to petition against the decisions of state authorities. Iran's legal system combines three legal traditions: English common law, civil law, and religious law. It is based on the principle of stare decisis (precedent) and is an adversarial system, where the parties in the suit bring evidence before the court. Court cases are decided by a BAR-qualified panel of juries or professional judges. Marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the religious confessionalist courts: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Bahá’í, and Zoroastrian. A committee of National Assembly members, Supreme Court justices, and the population of BAR-qualified citizens carries out the election of secular judges. Administration of Iran's courts (both the "General" courts and the Labor Courts) is carried by the Administration of Courts, situated in Tehran. Both General and Labor courts are paperless courts: the storage of court files, as well as court decisions, are conducted electronically. 'Religious Status' Iran has no official religion, but the state has a strong connection with Shia Islam, as well as a conflict between state law and religious law. Interaction between the political parties keeps the balance between state and religion largely as it existed during the Pahlavi dynasty. 'Foreign Relations' Since 1982 during the Iran-Iraq War, Iran has pursued a policy of strengthening relations with the West in general, more specifically with the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which it joined on September 5, 1989. It had joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972, and is a founding member of the World Trade Organization. As of 2015, Iran maintains diplomatic relations with 172 countries and maintains 129 foreign embassies. 'Military' The Iranian Armed Forces consist of the Iranian Army, the Iranian Navy, the Iranian Air Force, and the Iranian Guard, which are led by a commander-in-chief under the supervision of the Administration of Defense, and led by the President as Supreme Commander in wartime. Iran totals 545,000 active troops. Iran also has around 350,000 Reserve Force totaling around 900,000 trained troops. Iran has a paramilitary, Shia Islamic volunteer militia force within the Armed Forces, called the Basij, which includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty uniformed members. Up to 11 million men and women are members of the Basij who could potentially be called up for service; GlobalSecurity.org estimates Iran could mobilize "up to one million men". This would be among the largest troop mobilizations in the world. Supervising the Basij is the leader of Shia Islam in Iran, Ali Khameini, but strategic and tactical command over the Basij has been handed over to the Armed Forces. Since the end of the War in Afghanistan, Iran’s military spending represented 2.6% of the GDP or $102 per capita, the lowest figure of the Persian Gulf nations. Iran’s current independent military strategy is deterrence, but it is predicted that Iran may change this strategy to combat the rising problem of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Economy Iran’s economy is a mixed economy of central planning, nation corporate ownership of oil and other large enterprises, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures. In 2013, GDP at PPP $1.937 trillion, or $25,025.84 at PPP per capita. Iran is ranked as a upper income economy by the World Bank. In the early 21st century the service sector contributed the largest percentage of the GDP, followed by industry (mining and manufacturing) and agriculture. The Central Bank of the Republic of Iran is responsible for developing and maintaining the Iranian rial, which serves as the country’s currency. Since the end of te Iran-Iraq War, the government doesn’t recognize trade or workers unions other than the Iranian Labour Councils, which are subject to the approval of employers and the security services. There is no federal minimum wage; minimum wage plans are determined by the elected mayors/governors of townships or counties. Unemployment has remained above 7% since the end of the Iran-Iraq War, and the unemployment rate for women is almost double that of the men. In 2006, about 45% of the government's budget came from oil and natural gas revenues, and 31% came from taxes and fees.211 As of 2007, Iran had earned $70 billion in foreign exchange reserves mostly (80%) from crude oil exports. Iranian budget deficits have been a chronic problem, mostly due to large-scale state subsidies, that include foodstuffs and especially gasoline, totaling more than $84 billion in 2008 for the energy sector alone. In 2010, the economic reform plan was approved by parliament to cut subsidies gradually and replace them with targeted social assistance. The objective is to move towards free market prices in a 5-year period and increase productivity and social justice. The administration continues to follow the market reform plans of the previous one and indicated that it will diversify Iran's oil-reliant economy. Iran has also developed successful biotechnology, nanotechnology, and pharmaceuticals industries. Despite successes, there are still several problems to be overcome, such as the lagging corruption in the public sector and lack of competitiveness. Iran has leading manufacturing industries in the fields of car-manufacture and transportation, construction materials, home appliances, food and agricultural goods, armaments, pharmaceuticals, information technology, power and petrochemicals in the Middle East. According to FAO, Iran has been a top five producer of the following agricultural products in the world in 2012: apricots, cherries, sour cherries, cucumbers and gherkins, dates, eggplants, figs, pistachios, quinces, walnuts, and watermelons. 'Tourism' Although tourism declined significantly during the war with Iraq, it has subsequently recovered. About 1,659,000 foreign tourists visited Iran in 2004 and 2.3 million in 2009 mostly from Asian countries, including the republics of Central Asia, while about 10% came from the European Union and North America. Over five million tourists visited Iran in the fiscal year of 2014–2015, ending March 21, four percent more year-on-year. The most popular tourist destinations are Isfahan, Mashhad and Shiraz. In the early 2000s the industry faced serious limitations in infrastructure, communications, industry standards and personnel training. The majority of the 300,000 tourist visas granted in 2003 were obtained by Asian Muslims, who presumably intended to visit important pilgrimage sites in Mashhad and Qom. Several organized tours from Germany, France and other European countries come to Iran annually to visit archaeological sites and monuments. In 2003 Iran ranked 68th in tourism revenues worldwide. According to UNESCO and the deputy head of research for Iran Travel and Tourism Organization (ITTO), Iran is rated among the "10 most touristic countries in the world". Domestic tourism in Iran is one of the largest in the world. 'Energy' Iran has the second largest proved gas reserves in the world after Russia, with 33.6 trillion cubic metres, and third largest natural gas production in the world after Indonesia, and Russia. It also ranks fourth in oil reserves with an estimated 153,600,000,000 barrels. It is OPEC’s 2nd largest oil exporter next to Saudi Arabia, and is an energy superpower. In 2005, Iran spent US$4 billion on fuel imports, because of contraband and inefficient domestic use. Oil industry output averaged 4 million barrels per day (640,000 m3/d) in 2005, compared with the peak of six million barrels per day reached in 1974. In the early years of the 2000s (decade), industry infrastructure was increasingly inefficient because of technological lags. Few exploratory wells were drilled in 2005. In 2004, a large share of natural gas reserves in Iran were untapped. The addition of new hydroelectric stations and the streamlining of conventional coal and oil-fired stations increased installed capacity to 33,000 megawatts. Of that amount, about 75% was based on natural gas, 18% on oil, and 7% on hydroelectric power. In 2004, Iran opened its first wind-powered and geothermal plants, and the first solar thermal plant is to come online in 2009. Iran is the third country in the world to have developed GTL technology. Demographic trends and intensified industrialization have caused electric power demand to grow by 8% per year. The government’s goal of 53,000 megawatts of installed capacity by 2010 is to be reached by bringing on line new gas-fired plants and by adding hydroelectric, and nuclear power generating capacity. Iran’s first nuclear power plant at Bushehr went online in 2011. It is the second Nuclear Power Plant that ever built in the Middle East after Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia. 'Education, science, and technology' Since Pashaie’s education reforms, Education in Iran is highly centralized. K-12 education is supervised by the Ministry of Education, and higher education falls under the additional supervision of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The adult literacy rated 93.0% in September 2015, while it had rated 85.0% in 2008, up from 36.5% in 1976. Meanwhile youth literacy is an all time high, at 99.5%. The requirement to enter into higher education is to have a high school diploma and pass the national university entrance examination, Iranian University Entrance Exam (known as concour), which is the equivalent of the US SAT exams. Many students do a 1–2 year course of pre-university (piš-dānešgāhi), which is the equivalent of Advanced Placement classes, GCE A-levels, and International Baccalaureate. The completion of the pre-university course earns students the Pre-University Certificate. Higher education is sanctioned by different levels of diplomas. Kārdāni (associate degree; also known as fowq e diplom) is delivered after 2 years of higher education; kāršenāsi (bachelor's degree; also known as licāns) is delivered after 4 years of higher education; and kāršenāsi e aršad (master's degree) is delivered after 2 more years of study, after which another exam allows the candidate to pursue a doctoral program (PhD; known as doctorā). According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, the top-ranking universities in the country are the University of Tehran (468th worldwide), the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (612th) and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (815th). Iran has increased its publication output nearly tenfold from 1996 through 2004, and has been ranked first in terms of output growth rate, followed by China. According to SCImago, Iran could rank fourth in the world in terms of research output by 2018, if the current trend persists. In 2009, a SUSE Linux-based HPC system made by the Aerospace Research Institute of Iran (ARI) was launched with 32 cores, and now runs 96 cores. Its performance was pegged at 192 GFLOPS. Sorena 2 Robot, which was designed by engineers at the University of Tehran, was unveiled in 2010. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has placed the name of Surena among the five prominent robots of the world after analyzing its performance. In the biomedical sciences, Iran's Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics is a UNESCO chair in biology. In late 2006, Iranian scientists successfully cloned a sheep by somatic cell nuclear transfer, at the Royan Research Center in Tehran. According to a study by David Morrison and Ali Khadem Hosseini (Harvard-MIT and Cambridge), stem cell research in Iran is amongst the top 10 in the world. Iran ranks 15th in the world in nanotechnologies. Iran placed its domestically built satellite, Omid into orbit on the 54th anniversary of the 1954 Revolution, on 2 February 2009, through Safir rocket, becoming the ninth country in the world capable of both producing a satellite and sending it into space from a domestically made launcher. The Iranian nuclear program was launched in the 1950s. Iran is the seventh country to produce uranium hexafluoride, and controls the entire nuclear fuel cycle. Iranian scientists outside Iran have also made some major contributions to science. In 1960, Ali Javan co-invented the first gas laser, and fuzzy set theory was introduced by Lotfi Zadeh. Iranian cardiologist, Tofy Mussivand invented and developed the first artificial cardiac pump, the precursor of the artificial heart. Furthering research and treatment of diabetes, HbA1c was discovered by Samuel Rahbar. Iranian physics is especially strong in string theory, with many papers being published in Iran. Iranian-American string theorist Kamran Vafa proposed the Vafa-Witten theorem together with Edward Witten. In August 2014, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first-ever woman, as well as the first-ever Iranian, to receive the Fields Medal, the highest prize in mathematics. Demographics Iran is a diverse country, consisting of many religious and ethnic groups that are unified through a shared Persian language and culture. Iran's population grew rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century, increasing from about 19 million in 1956 to around 75 million by 2009. However, Iran's birth rate has dropped significantly in recent years, leading to a population growth rate—recorded from July 2012—of about 1.29 percent. Studies project that Iran's rate of growth will continue to slow until it stabilizes above 105 million by 2050. Iran hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with more than one million refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 2006, Iranian officials have been working with the UNHCR and Afghan officials for their repatriation. According to estimates, about five million Iranian citizens have emigrated to other countries, mostly since the 1954 Revolution/Civil War and the Iran-Iraq War in the 80s. According to the Iranian constitutional articles as of 1990, the government is required to provide every citizen of the country with access to social security that covers retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, accidents, calamities, health and medical treatment and care services. This is covered by tax revenues and income derived from public contributions. 'Languages' The majority of the population speaks the Persian language, which is also the official language of the country. Others include the rest of the Iranian languages within the greater Indo-European languages, and the languages of the other ethnicities in Iran. In southwestern and southern Iran, the Luri and Lari languages are spoken. In northern Iran, mostly confined to Gilan and Mazandaran, the Gilaki and Mazandarani languages are widely spoken, which, depending on author, are classified as either a dialect of Persian or a different Iranian language. They both have affinities to neighbouring Caucasian languages. In Kurdistan Province and nearby areas, Kurdish is widely spoken. In Khuzestan, many distinct Persian dialects are spoken. Furthmore, in parts of Gilan, Talysh is widely spoken, which stretches up to neighbouring Azerbaijan. Turkic languages and dialects, most importantly the Azerbaijani language which is by far the most spoken language in the country after the official language of Persian, are spoken in different areas in Iran, but is especially widely and dominantly spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan. Arabic is also spoken by the Arabs of Khuzestan, and the wider group of Iranian Arabs. Notable minority languages in Iran include Armenian, Georgian, and Neo-Aramaic. Circassian was also once widely used by the large Circassian minority, but, due to assimilation over the many years, no sizable number of Circassians speak the language anymore. Percentages of spoken language continue to be a point of debate, as many opt that they are politically motivated, most notably regarding the largest and second largest ethnicities in Iran; the Persians and Azerbaijanis. According to the CIA World Factbook, the percentages are for native speakers; Persian 53%, Azerbaijani 16%, Kurdish 10%, Mazandarani and Gilaki 7%, Luri 7%, Arabic 2%, Turkmen 2%, Balochi 2%, and the remainder 2% Armenian, Georgian, Neo-Aramaic, Circassian, and Other. 'Ethnic groups' As with the spoken languages, the ethnic group composition also remains a point of debate, mainly regarding the largest and second largest ethnic groups, the Persians and Azerbaijanis, due to a lack of Iranian state censuses based on ethnicity. The CIA World Factbook has estimated that around 79% of the population of Iran are a diverse Indo-European ethno-linguistic group that comprise the speakers of the Iranian languages, with Persians (incl. Mazandaranis, and Gilakis) constituting 61% of the population, Kurds 10%, Lurs 6%, and Balochs 2%. Peoples of the other ethnicities in Iran make up the remaining 21%, with Azerbaijanis constituting 16%, Arabs 2%, Turkmens and Turkic tribes 2%, and others 1% (such as Armenians, Talysh, Georgians, Circassians, Assyrians). The Library of Congress issued slightly different estimates: Persians 65% (incl. Mazandaranis, Gilakis and Talysh), Azerbaijanis 16%, Kurds 7%, Lurs 6%, Baluchi 2%; Turkic tribal groups such as Qashqai 1%, and Turkmens 1%; and non-Iranian, non-Turkic groups such as Armenians, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, and Arabs less than 3%. It determined that Persian is the first language of at least 65% of the country's population and is the second language for most of the remaining 35%. Other non-governmental estimations regarding the groups other than the Persians and Azerbaijanis roughly congruate with the World Factbook and the Library of Congress. However, many scholarly as well as organisational estimations regarding the number of these two groups differ significantly from above mentioned numbers. According many of these, the number of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran comprises between 21.6–30% of the total population, with the majority holding it on 25%. Nevertheless, the largest population of Azerbaijanis in the world live in Iran, regardless of whether they compose 16% or 30% of the population. 'Religion' Historically, Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in Iran, particularly during the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid empires. This changed after the fall of the Sassanid Empire by the Muslim Conquest of Iran, when Zoroastrianism was gradually replaced with Islam. Iran was predominantly Sunni until the Safavid dynasty forcibly converted the country (as well as the people of what is today the neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan) to Shia Islam in the 16th century. However, Mosaddegh founded the Republic of Iran without official religion. Today, Twelver Shia Islam is the most practiced religion in Iran, to which about 90% to 95% of the population officially belong. About 4% to 8% of the population are Sunni Muslims, mainly Kurds and Balochs. The remaining 2% are non-Muslim religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, Bahais, Mandeans, Yezidis, Yarsanis, and Zoroastrians. Judaism has a long history in Iran, dating back to the Achaemenid Conquest of Babylonia. Although many left in the wake of the establishment of the State of Israel and the 1979 Revolution, around 8,756 Jews remain in Iran, according to the latest census. Iran has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel. Around 250,000 – 370,000 Christians reside in Iran, and it is the largest recognized minority religion in the nation. Most are of Armenian background with a sizable minority of Assyrians as well. The government has not released statistics regarding irreligiosity. With the exception of Iranian Americans and Europeans, almost all Iranians adhere to the belief in a high power according to national polls; antitheistic atheism in Iran is close to non-existent. Culture WIP